Asset management system, asset management method, information processor, management device, and program

ABSTRACT

An asset management system includes one or more information processors having a communication function and a management device, the information processor includes a search unit which searches for a network address converter for converting between a local IP address and a global IP address in a network, and a position information transmitting unit which transmits positional information including at least one of the global IP address of the searched network address converter and a domain name corresponding to the global IP address and identification information of the information processor to the management device, the management device includes a positional information registration unit which records the positional information received from the information processor in a position recording unit.

BACKGROUNDS OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The invention relates to a technique for managing the position of aninformation processor that is asset of a company, and particularly to asystem and a method for managing the geographical position of theinformation processor against the lost or stolen case.

2. Background Art

As a system for managing the position of an information processor havinga communication function such as a portable personal computer, there hasbeen proposed a system in which a position detector such as a GPSposition detector is mounted on the information processor and a positioninformation reporting mail including the position information of thisprocessor detected by the position detector and the identificationinformation (ID inherent in the device) of this processor is transmittedto a management device through the Internet, hence to manage the aboveposition of each information processor on the side of the managementdevice (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).

As a system for managing the position of electronic equipment such as ICcard having no power source, there has been proposed a system in which aGPS position detector is mounted on the electronic equipment and, whenthis electronic equipment is installed in an access device such as apersonal computer and power is supplied, the position informationincluding the position of this equipment detected by the positiondetector and the IP address of an access device and the identificationinformation of this equipment (equipment ID) are uploaded to amanagement device through the Internet, hence to manage the position ofeach electronic equipment on the side of the management device (forexample, refer to Patent Document 2).

As a technique for controlling a network connection in order to ensuresecurity of a network, there has been proposed a technique fortransferring the device information of this processor (MAC address, nameof machine, IP address, and the like) to a management device through thenetwork at the timing when the information processor communicates withother device through the network, calculating a risk value based on thedevice information received at the side of the management device, andcontrolling the propriety of connection from the information processorto the network according to the calculated risk value (for example,refer to Patent Document 3).

-   Patent Document 1 Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No.    2003-234828-   Patent Document 2 Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No.    2006-31244-   Patent Document 3 Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No.    2006-66982

The system which controls the position with the position detector suchas the GPS position detector mounted on an information processor, has abenefit that the geographical position of the information processor lostor stolen may be detected with high precision, but it has a problem thatthe cost is high.

Though the system which uses IP address as the positional information asshown in the Patent Document 2 is difficult to detect the position withhigh precision, it may reduce the cost because the position detector isnot necessary. However, since the IP address assigned for an informationprocessor is the local IP address in the environment in which the NAT(Network Address Translation) operates, the local IP address may betransferred to the management device as the positional information. Thelocal IP address is an address which can be used freely in a pluralityof network organizations and it does not correspond to the geographicalposition in one to one. Therefore, it is impossible to manage theaccurate position of an information processor.

SUMMARY

An exemplary object of the invention is to provide a system which maymanage the position of each information processor by using the global IPaddress which is effective as the positional information of theinformation processor.

A asset management system according to an exemplary aspect of theinvention includes one or more information processors having acommunication function and a management device, the informationprocessor includes a search unit which searches for a network addressconverter for converting between a local IP address and a global IPaddress in a network, and a position information transmitting unit whichtransmits positional information including at least one of the global IPaddress of the searched network address converter and a domain namecorresponding to the global IP address and identification information ofthe information processor to the management device, the managementdevice includes a positional information registration unit which recordsthe positional information received from the information processor in aposition recording unit.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention willbecome clear from the detailed description given herebelow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be understood more fully from the detaileddescription given herebelow and from the accompanying drawings of thepreferred embodiment of the invention, which, however, should not betaken to be limitative to the invention, but are for explanation andunderstanding only.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an exemplary embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an information processor according to theexemplary embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing an example of the processing performed bythe information processor according to the exemplary embodiment of theinvention at a time of access to a network;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a management device according to theexemplary embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a view showing a constitutional example of a positionrecording unit of the management device according to the exemplaryembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a view showing a constitutional example of an unknown assetrecording unit of the management device according to the exemplaryembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing an example of the processing performedwhen the management device according to the exemplary embodiment of theinvention receives the positional information from the informationprocessor;

FIG. 8 is a view showing a constitutional example of the unknown assetrecording unit according to another exemplary embodiment of theinvention; and

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the processing example of the unknownasset detecting unit according to the other exemplary embodiment of theinvention.

EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be discussedhereinafter in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, in a first exemplary embodiment of the invention, aLAN (Local Area Network) 100 and a LAN 200 are mutually connected toeach other through a WAN (Wide Area Network) 300.

A plurality of PCs (Personal Computers) 11 to in and a NAT router 101are connected on the LAN 100. The NAT router 101 is connected in aboundary portion between the LAN 100 and the WAN 300. Similarly to theabove, a plurality of PCs 21 to 2 m and a NAT router 201 are connectedon the LAN 200. The NAT routers 101 and 201 have a DHCP server functionon the LAN side and a DHCP client function on the WAN side in additionto a NAT function and a routing function. Though the NAT router is takenas an example of a device having a network address conversion functionin the exemplary embodiment, the invention can be applied to any othernamed device such as a broad band router as far as it has the networkaddress conversion function.

An ISP (Internet Service Provider) 301 is connected to the NAT router101 on the side of the WAN 300, an ISP 302 is connected to the NATrouter 201 on the side of the WAN 300, and the ISP 301 and the ISP 302are connected to each other through the Internet 303. A managementdevice 400 and a PC 500 are connected to the Internet 303.

Next, a schematic of operation of the exemplary embodiment will bedescribed.

Now, assume that a global IP address G1 is assigned to the NAT router101 by the ISP 301 and a global IP address G2 is assigned to the NATrouter 201 by the ISP 302. The global IP address of the managementdevice 400 is defined as G4 and the global IP address of the PC 500 isdefined as G5. The respective local IP addresses L11 to L1 n areassigned to the respective PCs 11 to in within the LAN 100 from the NATrouter 101 and the respective local IP addresses L11 to L1 m areassigned to the respective PCs 21 to 2 m within the LAN 200 from the NATrouter 201.

When the PC 11 with the local IP address L11 assigned there communicateswith, for example, the PC 500 through the Internet 303, the G5 is set asa transfer destination address, the L11 is set as a transfer sourceaddress, and a packet with the source port number, for example, Px istransmitted to the LAN 100. The packet is captured by the NAT router 101and transferred to the WAN 300 side. At the time, in the NAT router 101,the transfer source address within the packet is converted. For example,when a conversion table (not illustrated) included in the NAT router 101describes that a pair of the local IP address L11 and the port number Pxis converted into a pair of the global IP address G1 and the port numberP1, the transfer source address within the packet is converted into theG1 and the transfer source port number is converted into the P1 to betransferred to the WAN 300. The packet is transferred to the PC 500having the transfer destination address G5.

The PC 500 recognizes who is a communicating party according to thetransfer source address G1 and the transfer source port number P1 withinthe received packet. When it makes a response to the communicatingparty, it transmits to the WAN 300 the packet with the transferdestination address set at G1, the transfer destination port number setat P1, and the transfer source address set at G5, this own IP address.This packet is transferred to the NAT router 101 having the transfersource address G1. The NAT router 101 converts the transfer destinationaddress into L11 and the transfer destination port number into Pxaccording to the contents of the above mentioned conversion table andtransfers the packet to the LAN 100. The packet is received by the PC 11having the transfer destination address L11.

In this way, the PC 11 apparently behaves like a PC having the global IPaddress G1. This is the same as the other PCs 12 to in than the PC 11 ofthe LAN 100 and the PC 21 to 2 m of the other LAN 200. As is clear fromthe above description, the respective PCs 11 to in and PCs 21 to 2 mrecognize the respective local IP addresses assigned for themselves astheir own IP addresses and the PCs do not know that the own IP addresswithin the packet transferred by each of them is converted and what isthe IP addresses rewritten. When providing the respective PCs 11 to inand 21 to 2 m with a function for obtaining own IP address and thentransferring it to the management device 400, generally, the local IPaddresses assigned to themselves are transferred to the managementdevice 400. As apparent from the example that the same local IP addressL11 is assigned to the PC 11 of the LAN 100 and the PC 21 of the LAN200, the local IP address does not correspond to the geographicalposition in one to one so that it cannot be used for the management ofthe position of PCs.

In the exemplary embodiment, each PC to be managed is provided with afunction for searching for a NAT router inside the LAN this PC isconnected to and a function for obtaining the global IP address used forthe address conversion from the searched NAT router, and it transfersthe global IP address obtained by the function to the management device400 as the own positional information. Hereinafter, the detail will bedescribed.

Referring to FIG. 2, an example of the PC 11 comprises a CPU 111, anetwork interface 112, an input/output device 113, a RAM 114, a ROM 115,and a bus 116 for connecting the above to each other. The other PCs 12to in and 21 to 2 m to be managed also have the same structure as the PC11.

The network interface 112 is a connecting portion between the PC 11 andthe network. Though the PC 11 in this example comprises only one networkinterface 112, the PC may comprise a plurality of network interfaces.The input/output device 113 is formed by a keyboard and a display. TheROM 115 is a nonvolatile memory for storing a program and fixed data.The RAM 114 is a readable and writable memory, used for storing theprogram and the data temporarily. The CPU 111 controls the whole of thePC 11 by performing the program stored in the ROM 115.

Various programs and data are stored in the ROM 115, and as the thingsrelating to the invention, a connection detecting unit 121, a DHCPclient unit 122, a positional information obtaining unit 123, apositional information transmitting unit 124, an asset management ID125, and a management device address 126 are stored in the ROM. Theseare installed, for example, in one portion of the operating system. Oneor all of the connection detecting unit 121, the DHCP client unit 122,the positional information obtaining unit 123, the positionalinformation transmitting unit 124, the asset management ID 125, and themanagement device address 126 stored in the ROM 115 may be stored in theRAM 114.

The connection detecting unit 121 is to detect that the networkinterface 112 is connected to the network.

The DHCP client unit 122 is to obtain the IP address and the otherinformation from the DHCP server when connecting to the network.

The positional information obtaining unit 123 is to find a NAT router,obtain the global IP address and the other data, and create thepositional information to be sent to the management device 400.

The positional information transmitting unit 124 is to transmit thecreated positional information to the management device 400 through thenetwork interface 112.

The asset management ID 125 is a character string for uniquelyidentifying this PC 11. The management device address 126 is acommunication address of the management device 400, corresponding to theglobal IP address G4 in the above mentioned example.

An example of the processing performed by the PC 11 at the access to theLAN is shown in FIG. 3. Hereinafter, the operation at that time will bedescribed taking, for example, the case where the PC 11 is connected tothe LAN 100 as shown in FIG. 1.

When the PC 11 is connected to the LAN 100 by inserting the LAN cableinto the network interface 112, the connection detecting unit 121detects the connection (Step S101). The DHCP client unit 122 transfers arequest for the IP address to the LAN 100 through a broadcast andobtains the IP address and the other information from the DHCP server(Step S102). In this example, the NAT router 101 has a DHCP serverfunction on the LAN side and assigns the IP address L11 to the PC11. Asthe other information, the IP address of the DNS server obtained fromthe ISP 301 is informed to the PC 11.

Next, the positional information obtaining unit 123 searches for the NATrouter 101 from the LAN 100 (Step S103), and when it finds it (YES inStep S104), it obtains the global IP address and the other data used forthe address conversion from the NAT router 101 (Step S105). As anexample of a communication protocol realizing the above operation, anUPnP (Universal Plug and Play) that is the communication protocol offinding and calling service (device) in a short distance may be used.The global IP address used for the address conversion corresponds to theG1 in the above mentioned example. When a plurality of global IPaddresses are distributed to the NAT router 101 by the ISP 301, it ispreferable that the global IP address G1 used for the address conversionof the local IP address L11 of the PC 11 is obtained from the aboveaddresses, but the other global IP address will do. As the other dataobtained together with the global IP address from the NAT router 101,there is a domain name corresponding to the relevant global IP address.

The positional information obtaining unit 123 creates the positionalinformation to be informed to the management device 400 regardless ofthe presence or absence of the NAT router (Step S106). The createdpositional information includes the following information.

1) When the global IP address is obtained from the NAT router

a) asset management ID 125

b) global IP address obtained from the NAT router

As a modification example, instead of or in addition to the global IPaddress of b), domain name obtained from the NAT router may be included.The IP address obtained from the NAT router in Step S102 and the IPaddress of the DNS server may be included. The domain name may beobtained by the positional information obtaining unit 123 inquiring thedomain name corresponding to the IP address obtained from the NAT routerof the DNS server.

2) When the NAT router is not found

a) asset management ID 125

b) IP address obtained in Step S102

As a modification example, instead of or in addition to the IP addressof b), the domain name corresponding to the IP address may be included.

In addition, the type of a device used for the network connection (LANcard, PHS, and the like), a manufacture name of the device (companyname), and a serial number of the device may be included in thepositional information in both 1) and 2).

The positional information transmitting unit 124 transmits the createdpositional information to the management device 400 identified by themanagement device address 126, through the network interface 112 (StepS107).

Referring to FIG. 4, an example of the management device 400 comprises aCPU 401, a network interface 402, an input/output device 403, a RAM 404,a ROM 405, a position recording unit 406, an unknown asset recordingunit 407, and a bus 408 connecting the above to each other.

The network interface 402 is a portion for connecting the managementdevice 400 and the network. The input/output device 403 is formed by akeyboard and a display. The ROM 405 is a nonvolatile memory for storinga program and the fixed data. The RAM 404 is a readable and writablememory, used for storing the program and the data temporarily. Theposition recording unit 406 and the unknown asset recording unit 407 arerespectively formed by, for example, a hard disk. The position recordingunit 406 stores the positional information for every PC to be managed.The unknown asset recording unit 407 stores the asset management ID of alost PC. The CPU 401 controls the whole management device 400 byperforming the program stored in the ROM 405.

Various programs are stored in the ROM 405 and as things relating to theinvention, a positional information registration unit 411, an unknownasset registration unit 412, and an unknown asset detecting unit 413 maybe stored in the ROM 405. These exist, for example, as an applicationprogram. One or all of the positional information registration unit 411,the unknown asset registration unit 412, and the unknown asset detectingunit 413 stored in the ROM 405 may be stored in the RAM 404.

The positional information registration unit 411 is to register thepositional information supplied from each PC through the networkinterface 402 into the position recording unit 406.

The unknown asset registration unit 412 is to register the assetmanagement ID of a lost PC into the unknown asset recording unit 407.The asset management ID of the lost PC is entered, for example, by amanager through the input/output device 403.

Every time the unknown asset registration unit 412 newly registers thepositional information in the position recording unit 406, the unknownasset detecting unit 413 is to detect the use of a lost PC by comparingthe asset management IDs within the registered positional informationwith the asset management ID stored in the unknown asset recording unit407.

Referring to FIG. 5, the position recording unit 406 has each entry E11corresponding to each PC to be managed in one to one and the entry E11includes the asset management ID, the final positional information, andthe final access time of the corresponding PC.

Referring to FIG. 6, the unknown asset recording unit 407 has each entryE21 corresponding to the lost PC in one to one and the entry E21includes the asset management ID and a pointer to the positionalinformation entry E211 of the corresponding PC. When there is nopositional information entry E211, the pointer is NULL. The positionalinformation entry E211 includes the positional information, the accesstime, and the pointer to the next positional information entry E211.When there is no next positional information entry E211, the pointer isNULL.

An example of the processing of the management device 400 when receivingthe positional information from the PC to be managed is shown in FIG. 7.Hereinafter, the operation at that time will be described taking forexample, the case where the PC11 is connected to the LAN 100 as shown inFIG. 1. Assume that the asset management ID of the PC 11 is HO-SA001.

When the PC11 transmits the positional information including, forexample, the asset management ID=HO-SA001, the global IP address G1, andthe domain name to the management device 400, the network interface 402of the management device 400 receives the information (Step S201). Next,the positional information registration unit 411 searches for the entryE11 having the same asset management ID as that included in the receivedpositional information from the position recording unit 406, rewritesthe data in the final positional information in the entry E11, into thedata of the global IP address G1 and the domain name included in thepositional information which is received at this time, and rewrites thedata in the final access time into the time of receiving this positionalinformation (Step S202). The received positional information and thetime set in the final access time are informed to the unknown assetdetecting unit 413.

The unknown asset detecting unit 413 checks whether the unknown assetrecording unit 407 stores the asset management ID corresponding to theasset management ID included in the informed positional information(Step S203), and when there is no corresponding asset management ID (NOin Step S204), it finishes the processing. On the other hand, when thereis the corresponding asset management ID (YES in Step S204), the unknownasset recording unit 407 stores the informed positional information(Step S205). Specifically, the positional information entry E211including the positional information received at this time, the informedtime, and the NULL value is created, and it is connected to the end of achain consisting of more than zero (*) positional information entry E211with the pointer of the entry E21 having the corresponding assetmanagement ID. The unknown asset detecting unit 413 displays a messageof finding an unknown asset with its asset management ID on the displayof the input/output device 403 (Step S206).

Next, an effect of the exemplary embodiment will be described.

It is possible to manage the geographical positions of the PCs to bemanaged. This is because each PC to be managed transmits the positionalinformation including the global IP address capable of specifying theposition of the self PC or the corresponding domain name to themanagement device and the management device stores the information inthe position recording unit every time it newly gains access to thenetwork. How much degree the geographical position is known from theglobal IP address or the corresponding domain name depends on each case.For example, there are the case where only a country and an area areknown and the case where a prefecture, city, town, village, and anorganization it belongs to (company and school) are known.

It is possible to detect access of a lost PC to a network. This isbecause since the unknown asset recording unit stores the assetmanagement ID of the lost PC, the management device detects theagreement between the asset management ID within the positionalinformation transmitted by the lost PC every time it newly gains accessto the network and the asset management ID registered in the unknownasset recording unit.

It is possible to gain an access history of a lost PC to the network anda movement history of the geographical position. This is because thepositional information transmitted from the lost PC every time it newlygains access to the network is stored in the position recording unit 406as the access history. Owing to this, the lost PC can be pursued easily.

It is possible to guard against a PC that is the asset of a companybeing stolen. This is because when a PC illegally taken out is usedhaving access to a network, the geographical position of the PC isspecified according to its global IP address and in the criminalinvestigation, the police can obtain the personal information of aperson who uses a specified IP address at a specified time, referring toa provider. It is thought that few people take out a PC illegally undersuch a situation.

Although the exemplary embodiment of the invention has been described asmentioned above, the invention is not limited to the above example andvarious additions and modifications are possible. For example, theexemplary embodiment as follows may be included in the invention.

1) Though the position recording unit 406 shown in the example of FIG. 5records the final positional information and access time of a PC to bemanaged, the past positional information and access time may bepreserved as the history without clearing.

2) In the processing of FIG. 7, though the unknown asset detecting unit413 performs the processing of detecting whether the unknown assetrecording unit 407 registers the asset management ID within the receivedpositional information in synchronization with the receipt of the newpositional information, the detection processing may be performedasynchronously to the receipt of the positional information. In thiscase, as shown in FIG. 8, the unknown asset recording unit 407 storesthe asset management ID together with the time information ofregistering the same ID. The unknown asset detecting unit 413 performsthe processing shown in FIG. 9, for example, batch processing late atnight. The operation at that time is as follows.

The unknown asset detecting unit 413 pays attention to one lost assetstored in the unknown asset recording unit 407 (Step S301). When thereis no lost asset (YES (NO*) in Step S302), the processing of FIG. 9 isfinished. When there is a questionable lost asset (NO (YES*) in StepS302), the final access time in the entry of the same asset managementID as the lost asset within the position recording unit 406 is comparedwith the registration time of the lost asset (Step S303). When the finalaccess time is not later than the registration time (NO in Step S304),the processing proceeds to Step S307. When the final access time islater than the registration time (YES in Step S304), the positionalinformation of the final access time is read out from the positionrecording unit 406 and stored in the unknown asset recording unit 407(Step S305), and a lost asset finding message describing the assetmanagement ID of the lost asset is displayed on the display of theinput/output device 403 (Step S306). The processing proceeds to StepS307. In Step S307, attention is paid to the next one lost asset storedin the unknown asset recording unit 407 and the processing is returnedto Step S303, the same processing as the above is repeated. When thereis no lost asset (YES (NO*) in Step S308), the processing of FIG. 9 isfinished.

3) In the above exemplary embodiment, although a PC is used as a targetfor asset management, an information processor other than the PC may bethe target for asset management.

According to a second exemplary embodiment of the invention, themanagement device includes an unknown asset recording unit which recordsthe identification information of a lost information processor and anunknown asset detecting unit which detects that the positionalinformation including the same identification information as thatrecorded in the unknown asset recording unit is recorded in the positionrecording unit.

According to a third exemplary embodiment of the invention, an assetmanagement method includes a first step in which an informationprocessor having a communication function searches for a network addressconverter for converting between a local IP address and a global IPaddress from a connected network, a second step in which the informationprocessor transmits the positional information including at least one ofthe global IP address of the searched network address converter and adomain name corresponding to the global IP address and theidentification information of this information processor to a managementdevice through the communication function, and a third step in which themanagement device records the positional information supplied from theinformation processor in the position recording unit.

According to a fourth exemplary embodiment of the invention, a assetmanagement method further includes a fourth step in which, in the firstasset management method, the management device detects that thepositional information including the same identification information asthat recorded in the unknown asset recording unit which records theidentification information of a lost information processor is recordedin the position recording unit.

According to a fifth exemplary embodiment of the invention, aninformation processor is an information processor having a communicationfunction, comprising a search unit which searches for a network addressconverter for converting between a local IP address and a global IPaddress from a network this processor connects to and a positionregistration unit which transmits the positional information includingat least one of the global IP address of the searched network addressconverter and a domain name corresponding to the global IP address andthe identification information of this information processor to amanagement device through the communication function.

According to a sixth exemplary embodiment of the invention, in aninformation processor, when failing in the search, the positionregistration unit transmits the positional information including atleast one of an IP address assigned to this processor and the domainname corresponding to the IP address and the identification informationof this information processor to the management device through thecommunication function.

According to a seventh exemplary embodiment of the invention, amanagement device is communicable with one or more informationprocessors having a function for transmitting the positional informationincluding at least one of the global IP address of a network addressconverter, which converts between a local IP address and a global IPaddress in a network this processor connects to, and a domain namecorresponding to the global IP address and the identificationinformation of this information processor, and it includes a positionrecording unit which records the positional information of everyinformation processor and a positional information registration unitwhich records the positional information supplied from the informationprocessor in the position recording unit.

According to an eighth exemplary embodiment of the invention, amanagement device includes an unknown asset recording unit which recordsthe identification information of a lost information processor and anunknown asset detecting unit which detects that the positionalinformation including the same identification information as thatrecorded in the unknown asset recording unit is recorded in the positionrecording unit.

Since the information processor connected to a network searches for thenetwork address converter which converts between the local IP addressand the global IP address from the network and when succeeding in thesearch, it operates to transmit the positional information including atleast one of the global IP address of the above network addressconverter and the domain name corresponding to the above global IPaddress and the identification information of this information processorto the management device, even when information processor is set in anenvironment where the NAT operates, the management device can manage theglobal IP address useful to specify the position of the informationprocessor or the corresponding domain name.

According to the invention, under the environment having the networkaddress converter such as NAT, it is possible to manage the position ofeach information processor with the global IP address or correspondingdomain name effective as the positional information. This is becauseeach information processor to be managed has a function for searchingfor the network address converter such as the NAT router from the ownnetwork this processor connects to and a function for gaining at leastone of the global IP address used for the address conversion and itscorresponding domain name from the searched network address converter,and it transmits at least one of the global IP address and itscorresponding domain name gained by these functions to the managementdevice as the self positional information.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to exemplary embodiments thereof, the invention is not limitedto these embodiments. It will be understood by those of ordinary skillin the art that various changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention asdefined by the claims.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromJapanese patent application No. 2006-203134, filed on Jul. 26, 2006, thedisclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

1. An asset management system, comprising: one or more informationprocessors having a communication function and a management device whichmanages a geographical position of said one or more informationprocessors, wherein said one or more information processors comprise: asearch unit which searches for a network address converter forconverting between a local IP address and a global IP address in anetwork; a positional information obtaining unit which createspositional information including at least one of said global IP addressof said searched network address converter and a domain namecorresponding to said global IP address and identification informationof the information processor; and a position information transmittingunit which transmits said positional information to said managementdevice, said management device comprises: a positional informationregistration unit which records said positional information receivedfrom said information processor in a position recording unit, whereinwhen failing in said searching for the network address converter, saidpositional information obtaining unit creates said positionalinformation including at least one of an IP address assigned to theinformation processor and the domain name corresponding to the IPaddress and the identification information of the information processor.2. The asset management system according to claim 1, wherein saidmanagement device comprises an unknown asset recording unit whichrecords identification information of a lost information processor, andan unknown asset detecting unit which detects that said positionalinformation including the same identification information as saididentification information recorded in said unknown asset recording unitis recorded in said position recording unit.
 3. An asset managementmethod, comprising: in an information processor, a searching step ofsearching for a network address converter for converting between a localIP address and a global IP address in a network; a positionalinformation obtaining step of creating positional information includingat least one of said global IP address of said searched network addressconverter and a domain name corresponding to said global IP address andidentification information of the information processor; a transmittingstep of transmitting said positional information to a management devicewhich manages a geographical position of said information processor; insaid management device, a registration step of recording said positionalinformation received from said information processor in a positionrecording unit, wherein when failing in said searching for the networkaddress converter, said positional information obtaining step createssaid positional information including at least one of an IP addressassigned to the information processor and the domain name correspondingto the IP address and the identification information of the informationprocessor.
 4. The asset management method according to claim 3, whereinsaid management device includes a step of detecting that said positionalinformation including the same identification information as saididentification information recorded in said unknown asset recording unitwhich records identification information of a lost information processoris recorded in said position recording unit.
 5. An information processorhaving a communication function, comprising: a search unit whichsearches for a network address converter for converting between a localIP address and a global IP address in a network; a positionalinformation obtaining unit which creates positional informationincluding at least one of said global IP address of said searchednetwork address converter and a domain name corresponding to said globalIP address and identification information of the information processor;and a position information transmitting unit which transmits saidpositional information to a management device which manages ageographical position of the information processor, wherein when failingin said searching for the network address converter, said positionalinformation obtaining unit creates said positional information includingat least one of an IP address assigned to the information processor andthe domain name corresponding to the IP address and the identificationinformation of the information processor.
 6. A management device formanaging a geographical position of one or more information processorshaving a communication function, comprising: means for receiving unitwhich receives positional information including at least one of a globalIP address of a network address converter, which converts between alocal IP address and the global IP address in a network, and a domainname corresponding to the global IP address and identificationinformation of said information processor from said informationprocessor, a position recording unit which records said positionalinformation of said one or more information processors, a positionalinformation registration unit which records said positional informationreceived from said information processor in said position recordingunit, an unknown asset recording unit which records identificationinformation of a lost information processor, and an unknown assetdetecting unit which detects that said positional information includingthe same identification information as the identification informationrecorded in said unknown asset recording unit is recorded in saidposition recording unit.
 7. A program performed by a computer forming aninformation processor having a communication function, comprising: asearching function of searching for a network address converter whichconverts between a local IP address and a global IP address in anetwork; a positional information obtaining function of creatingpositional information including at least one of said global IP addressof said searched network address converter and a domain namecorresponding to said global IP address and identification informationof the information processor; and a position transmitting function oftransmitting said positional information to a management device whichmanages a geographical position of said information processor, whereinwhen failing in said searching for the network address converter, saidpositional information obtaining function creates said positionalinformation including at least one of an IP address assigned to theinformation processor and the domain name corresponding to the IPaddress and the identification information of the information processor.8. A program performed by a computer forming a management device formanaging a geographical position of one or more information processorshaving a communication function, comprising: a function of receivingpositional information including at least one of a global IP address ofa network address converter, which converts between a local IP addressand the global IP address in a network, and a domain name correspondingto the global IP address and identification information of saidinformation processor from said information processor, a positionrecording function of recording said positional information of said oneor more information processors, a positional information registrationfunction of recording said positional information received from saidinformation processor in a position recording unit, an unknown assetrecording function of recording identification information of a lostinformation processor, and an unknown asset detecting function ofdetecting that the positional information including the sameidentification information as the identification information recorded inan unknown asset recording unit is recorded in said position recordingunit.